


Welcome home, I guess

by starhugger



Category: Clockhand Children Universe - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Clockhand children universe, Hurt/Comfort, NBLM, Other, Slow Burn, Tessa is a sweetie pie, These clockhands are gay, This is gonna have chapters, This is not a one part story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 15:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15933473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starhugger/pseuds/starhugger
Summary: Tessa gets a new visitor.Things change around the house.





	1. Well, hello there.

Sometimes Tessa had to admit, the times when they were alone in their house could be boring.

Sure, they weren’t much of a talker in the first place, and would gladly prefer stuffing their face right into a book over social interaction, but sometimes, the shadows seemed a little too long, and the clock ticked too loudly. Tessa was timid. Scared. And they didn’t like knowing that being alone made them _vulnerable._

On this day, Tessa had been in the library. Picking out some history books to read (again), they sat themselves down in an awkward, yet comfortable position in their chair. It creaked under their weight, but they paid no mind to it. The old house’s furniture was old, but It wasn’t going to break anytime soon.

Flipping open the pages, Tessa began to read, once again, about how the ancient humans living in islands used rather poor technology to find out that the earth was a round ball. It sort of fascinated them, that these creatures could use _sticks_ and _rocks_ to find out things thousands of years ago. Things weren’t like this for their kind. Everything seemed to have already been known, or it was at least portrayed that way.

Then again, what did Tessa know? They preferred to stay out of the Council’s way. Most clockhands didn’t know Tessa existed at all.

Except for the ones who needed help.

See, Tessa lived in a rather large home. This was because, when a clockhand needed help, Tessa would be there. Side didn’t matter so much to them. They were neutral. Completely. And they didn’t care that the council wouldn’t like it. The council was full of a bunch of idiots who fuck with people and like to pretend they know what they’re doing, just because they’re old.

Just as they were beginning to get into a period of learning about the Romans taking over the Greeks in their dusty old book, they yelped when they heard a loud, thundering yet hesitant knock. It almost sounded… weak.

Quickly, they put they book away and sprinted down the stairs, to the living room and then the door. Rain was pouring outside, so maybe it was just thunder, but then they heard it knock again. It was definitely somebody. They carefully, almost nervously, peeked through the door.

They were taken aback when a man stood before them. Their hair was a dusty, pale blonde, and their eyes were a faint red.

_Clockhand._

Cuts littered the man’s body, and as he looked up at the now panicking Tessa, they gently held their hand out. No words needed to be spoken. They were sure of why he was here.

The man looked up at them, then at their hand, before slowly taking it. Tessa tugged, and led him inside before shutting the door. Instantly he seemed to collapse in their arms, as if his knees gave out, and Tessa gently squeaked, grabbing onto him and hoising him up just enough to carry.

They looked around, before going up the stairs on the left, slowly as to not drop the injured clockhand, and went down the hall before gently kicking the door to the medicine room open.

Tessa maneuvered the man into their arms, first bridal style, then gently laid him on the bed. He seemed to be barely conscious.

Tessa sighed. They checked the mans tags on his clothing and found out what would fit him, and went to another room, picking out simple and comfortable, _dry_ clothes that they could change him into once he was also dry and cleaned up. Then, they went back into the room with the half-awake clockhand, getting some medicine they made themselves and a piece of cloth for the cuts and bruises.

When going back to the man, they took a towel and dried off his hair and body, before carefully getting the destroyed clothing off him (with effort; wet clothes are the worst) and throwing it to the corner of the room for now. They slipped on the shirt and pajama pants, before setting him on the other side of the bed that hadn’t been wet from being laid on.

The man seemed an awful lot more comfortable, they realized, and smiled before going to get the medicine off the counter. They grabbed it carefully, dabbing it on the cloth before rubbing the cuts. Normally, it would hurt, but the man seemed asleep anyways, so it wasn’t much of a bother. The wounds that needed to be wrapped up were covered in some homemade band aids and gauze. Surely, when the man woke he would be in peace.

He wasn’t in peace when he woke up.

When he _did_ wake up, the first thing he did was begin to slightly panic. Lots of “who’s” and “what’s” and “where’s”, as if he forgot he came here. Tessa gently hushed him, before explaining to him quietly that he came here when it was raining, and had to be patched up.

“I assume you wanted to come here.” Tessa said calmly. “I know you’re a clockhand.”

“So I came to the right place?” He quietly responded, making Tessa smile. “Yes.”

He seemed to relax. “So.. you’re Tessa then?”

Tessa nodded quietly. “And who are you?”

The man seemed to shift uncomfortably. “Um… My name is Patrick.”

“Patrick?” Tessa commented. “I feel like I’ve heard of you.”

Patrick groaned. “Who hasn’t by this point? I went rogue. Ran for my life. What else could I do after everything?”

Tessa slowly began to realize what was happening.

“You…. Ran? All by yourself?” Tessa murmured.

“What choice did I have?” Patrick said bitterly. “Cassandra wouldn’t come with me. And Ian…”

He went quiet.

Tessa didn’t press him on it.

It took a few moments before Patrick spoke again. “I heard you help rogue clockhands.”

Tessa could hear the fear in his voice. They looked at the man's eyes, closely, and they just...  _knew_ he had nowhere else to go. If they didn't help him, he could die; whether from the cold or being caught by the clock.

Tessa spoke quietly. “I help all clockhands.”

“W-well." Patrick stuttered out. I. I wanted to know if…-“

 “Yes, you can stay here.” Tessa said, softly. “I always let people like you do so until they’re better.”

Patrick, thankfully, seemed to brighten up immediately.

“Thank you.” He whispered.

“Of course.” Tessa responded. “Are you able to walk?”

Patrick pushed his arms so he could sit, before carefully putting his feet on the ground and standing up, with effort. His knees still wobbled, but he could do a basic standing position if he needed to.

Tessa silently smiled. Patrick took a few steps towards them, getting close enough to touch before stumbling again.

Tessa caught them just like last time. “Are you trying to get me to sweep you off your feet or something?” they asked jokingly.

Patrick laughed hoarsely, looking up at them with glittering eyes. “Maybe.”

Something told Tessa this man was going to be quite the character.


	2. Stay

The next few days were nothing short of... interesting.

Patrick soon got himself on his feet and could walk around the house, albeit slowly. Tessa didn't mind, though.

Patrick was not one for alone time. At first, this brought Tessa dismay. They liked to be alone, not being spoken to constantly.

"Hey Tessa." Patrick would say, and they'd look up just a bit from their book. Patrick would try to talk, but they'd shy away before he could finish.

They didn't mean to be rude, but talking to people wasn't particularly their thing.

But eventually, he began to listen to him.

 

"Tessa." Patrick said one day. "I really miss Cassandra. I'm worried they've done something to her."

Tessa set down their book. "Done something?"

"You know how the council is." Patrick replied. "And they know she was rogue. And was with me."

Tessa sighed. "What could you do? It's hopeless, Patrick."

This didn't help.

"But... I.."

He went quiet, clearly upset. Tessa could sense something was wrong, and slowly walked over to him.

"Hey..." Tessa started, gently touching his back. They could feel the lurches of his back, and they knew suddenly that they must have been crying. The poor thing.

"Not all clockhand children are like you, Pat." Tessa murmured soothingly. "Some of them don't want to choose this life. And some... can't. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do what you want to do. If you can't stand the council, you had every right to run away."

"But it's not fair!" Patrick said, almost angrily. "They took everything from me! They took Ian from me- They're going to take Cass too! What's the point in rebelling if you're all alone?"

"You're not alone." Tessa said. "You have me."

"And how long until I have to leave?" Patrick said, blinking tears out of his eyes.

".... However long you need to." Tessa replied.

Patrick sniffled, and Tessa sat themselves down, letting Patrick rest on their leg quietly. Patrick didn’t say a single word, having run out of things to grieve and cry over.

They pulled out a blanket from beside them, laying it across them both as Patrick snuggled up to them quietly. They liked the silence.

 

Tessa closed their eyes, slowly petting Patrick's hair until he calmed himself back down. They couldn't really imagine how he felt- well, they sort of could. They had been a chime. They had to escape, too, a long time ago. But it's different when you have nothing less to lose. It hadn't been like that for Patrick. Not at all. Curling up their legs, they pulled Patrick close so he could rest close to them. Their arms slowly wrapped around him, watching as he blinked and stared into space silently.

Patrick was alright company after all.

 

After they both fell asleep, they ended up tangling together in each other’s arms. Tessa couldn’t really move, but they didn’t care anyways. Patrick had been holding onto them like a teddy bear. Maybe they should get him an actual teddy bear.

Though, honestly, they wouldn’t mind being the placeholder.

When Patrick moved around the house, Tessa would read. They would sometimes come across each other, and it was a warm moment before fading back into whatever they were doing, like watercolor fading into a canvas, leaving only the trace behind.

It was a nice dynamic, but a small part of Tessa screamed and begged for that kind of human contact again. They needed it. They wanted to hold and _grip_ him until he felt better. Or maybe they wanted to feel better. Maybe even both.

It was odd.

But, alas, for the time being they of course ignored it. It wasn’t nice, however, to know that no matter how safe and comfortable Patrick became here, he would soon be forced to leave so neither one of them got caught. Tessa didn’t want to think about that.

Patrick became a lot like a friend. They started out only talking occasionally, but soon enough, they would smile at each other warmly when seeing each other. They sat by each other. They read books together. And all that time, they didn’t need to say a word.

The longer Patrick stayed, the less they wanted him to leave.

They only wanted to let Patrick crawl into his lap and stay there forever. No more fighting. No more drama and no more pain. Just… them. In silence and solitude. He didn’t want Patrick in danger anymore. Did Patrick want that too?

But what could they do? Especially for someone as shy and timid as them, there was no way for Tessa to say the one word that could keep him here, anyways.

Sometimes, they’d hear it echo in his head when Patrick looked over at him from across the hall. When they shared a glance while reading a book. When they saw each other in the living room. It spoke so quietly, but it held power, making him shudder. A word that carried a picture, and an entire future, deep inside it.

_“Stay.”_

 

 

 


End file.
